BeoBuffy? pt.2
by C.J5
Summary: Beowulf/Buffy crossover; Spike/Buffy; 2/2


As always, I own nothing, Joss owns everything, and feedback is very, very welcome and can be sent to lajones@ala.net   
While they slept, Beowulf and his men arrived and offered their help to Hrothgar as well. Hrothgar accepted, and also agreed to Beowulf's condition that he and his men alone would fight the monster. Mid afternoon, Buffy awoke to the sound of soft whimpers coming from the other side of the dimly lit room. She awoke fully as a piercing scream filled the confines of their chamber.   
"No!" Spike was thrashing wildly now, screaming in utter despair. "No, no, you can't take her, no!"   
Buffy jumped up and rushed to Spike's side, tripping slightly over the sheets in her haste. "Spike, wake up!" she shook him gently, then with increasing urgency as he did not respond. "Spike, up! Now!" She finally slapped him hard across the face, which did the trick nicely.   
"Buffy? Slayer, you're here. Good, I mean..."   
"Spike, what's the matter?" She perched on the edge of his bed and looked down at him, her brow furrowing slightly. "You were screaming like there was no tomorrow. What were you dreaming about, Drusilla?"   
He blanched slightly, and looked guiltily up at her. "Yeah, that's right, pet. I was just dreamin about Dru, is all. Bit of a nightmare, it was." He coughed, "You just go on back to bed now, and I'm real sorry I woke you."   
"All right, if you're sure you're okay." He certainly didn't look okay, all pale and shuddery, but she guessed the pale part was pretty normal for a vampire, and she could imagine dreaming about losing his ex-girlfriend again was more than enough to give him the shakes. She got up and walked back to her side of the room. She knew she probably wouldn't be getting any more sleep now, but she supposed it couldn't hurt to try. "Good night, Spike." She called out, just before snuggling deep under the covers.   
"Good night, Slayer." He called back, trying to get his thoughts back under control. This was not the first time he had had this particular nightmare, and it never failed to leave him distraught. The dream started off normal enough, with him walking through the park looking for supper. He would wander around a bit, until he finally found himself in downtown Sunnydale. He would glance around at the shops, and then turn a corner into a deserted alley. At least, he always thought it was deserted, until he got a little further in. Then he would see his beloved Dru, vamped out with fangs all bloodied, crouching over an inanimate figure. He could never believe that she had come back to him, yet he always knew without a doubt that she had. He would run forward, heart bursting, and then he would get a closer look at the dead girl. It was always Buffy, lying there in a heap, and suddenly a blind rage would overtake him. A stake would appear in his hand, and he would rush forward, stabbing Dru through the heart. And afterwards, he couldn't sleep for days.   
Dusk came all too soon, and Unferth showed up to wake the slumbering warriors. He tapped lightly at the door, and when there was no response, started slamming his fist against it with gusto. "Awaken, most honored guests!" cried Unferth. "King Hrothgar requires your presence in the mead hall for a great feast before the evil Grendel is to be destroyed. So hurry up!" With that, Unferth scurried off do more boot licking.   
Spike and Buffy woke quickly enough, both having slept rather fitfully after Spike's nightmare. Spike had been rather fearful that if he slept again that awful dream might continue, and Buffy had been trying desperately to convince herself that she could not care less if the stupid blond vampire was having bad dreams. And it sure didn't matter to her if his dreams were about Drusilla. After all, it wasn't like she wanted him dreaming about herself or anything. Not at all. It occurred to Buffy that she really needed to kill the darned monster and get back to Sunnydale so she could get away from Spike who she absolutely did not like one little bit or find remotely attractive. Honest.   
They both took a moment to straighten their hair and outfits, and went off in search of the mead hall. They meandered briefly in the winding passages before coming to the large room, now filled to the brim with loud, drunk warriors.   
"Buffy, Spike!" Hrothgar called out as they entered. "Come, there is someone I want you to meet!"   
The two walked quickly over to the head of the table where a very large, strong looking man was currently occupying the seat to Hrothgar's right. Hrothgar addressed the man as Buffy and Spike took their seats on the other side of the King.   
"Beowulf, I want you to meet Buffy and Spike, who are also here to, oh, um..." Hrothgar trailed off, looking decidedly embarrassed.   
"We're here to kill Grendel." Buffy finished for him, smile politely at the big man, who did not return the gesture.   
"I and my men alone will destroy Grendel." Beowulf informed her. "You will hide with the rest of the soldiers."   
" Oh, no." Spike muttered. He correctly assumed that the Slayer would not take kindly to being told that she would hide while the big, strong men fought the evil.   
"Excuse me?" Buffy narrowed her eyes and glowered at the legendary hero. "I will have you know that I have killed more demons than you will ever see if you live to be a hundred! And I am so helping fight this thing! In fact, maybe you should go hide while I kill the monster!" she finished triumphantly, the look in her eyes daring anyone to contradict her. Spike took a second to brace himself and spoke up.   
"Um, pet, you do remember that the reason we're here is to find out how to kill the monster, don't you?" Buffy turned slowly and gave him a look that might well have dusted a lesser vampire. Beowulf, who was very, very strong and very, very heroic but not particularly intelligent, took this opportunity to steer the conversation back where he thought it ought to be headed.   
"You will go and you will hide and that is the end of it!" he roared, and just as Buffy was about five seconds away from beating this moron's head in, Hrothgar broke in with a noble attempt to avoid bloodshed.   
"Please, my friends, be at peace. Surely you can sit out one battle with minimal loss of honor, can't you, Buffy?" Buffy now turned her infamous glare, which was really working overtime today, towards the King.   
"I am fighting tonight." She stated with surprising calmness, then rose with equal grace and stalked off to her room. Spike realized he needed to salvage this situation, and fast. He quickly reviewed his options. One, he could talk Beowulf into letting Buffy fight, which would be quite difficult, and, if he were successful, probably end in her getting killed. Nope, that wouldn't work. Two, he could help Beowulf with not letting her fight, and that would probably end with a stake through his heart. Still, she'd be alive tomorrow, more likely than not, and one did have to weigh the importance of such things. He sighed to himself, and turned to Beowulf.   
"Look pal, I am totally with you on this one. That girl should not be fighting, no way, no how." Beowulf looked at him rather suspiciously, and Spike quickly went on. "I mean, this is your big battle, right? Your chance to get all that nice glory and honor, don't want some silly little chit ruining it all for you, now do you?" Beowulf nodded slowly at this.   
"What do you suggest?" he asked.   
"Well, I'll tell you." Spike relaxed a bit now, he was quite sure that this whole thing was going to work perfectly. Except, of course, for the whole him getting staked part. "I notice the door to our room has a lock on it. Is it locked from the inside, with a key?"   
"Yes, it is." Hrothgar answered, obviously glad that none of the fighters were going to kill each other. After all, if Beowulf failed to kill Grendel, it would certainly be good to have back up.   
"Right then, well, I'll lock up the Slayer, then, and I won't tell her I have the key, and in the morning, after you've killed the monster, then I'll let her out."   
"You'll lock up the who?" queried Beowulf. He got confused rather easily.   
"Oh, that's just a little nickname Buffy has. We were in a band together." Spike explained.   
"A what?" now Beowulf was really bewildered.   
"Um, never mind. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that key, and we can set this little plan into action." Hrothgar, who didn't exactly have a stellar grip on the proceedings himself, acquiesced quickly. Spike hastily took his leave at this point, not wanting to totally mess up the future by telling these guys about things that wouldn't be invented for a few dozen centuries.   
When he got to their room, Buffy was curled up on her bed, asleep. At least, he figured she was asleep, until at the click of the key in the lock she sat straight up.   
"Spike, what are you doing?" She was looking at him with mild suspicion.   
"Uh, nothing at all, luv." He answered her apprehensively. He had hoped that he would have at least a few hours before explaining to her that she wasn't going anywhere tonight.   
At this point Buffy was sure he was up to something. If someone looked that guilty, she figured, they must be. "Spill, Spike." She threatened. "Now."   
Spike nervously cleared his throat. "The thing is, pet, I was just remembering that when I read this story, Beowulf and his men fought Grendel alone and won. Now, since we do want them to win, wouldn't it make sense to just leave well enough alone and let them kill the thing?"   
"No." She replied curtly, not liking they way this conversation was going at all.   
"Well, IlockedthedoorandIhavethekeyandyoudon'tandI'mprettysure stakeingmemightdosomethingfunnytothespacetimecontinumand..."   
"Spike, stop! Now say that again, slowly, and stop backing away from me like that."   
"The door is locked, Slayer, and your not getting out and getting yourself killed trying to fight it." Spike had to struggle not to add a "please don't kill me" to that sentence, but he did have some pride left.   
"Spike, I cannot believe this! Listen, I'm sure that spell will take you back to the future without me, and it's not like I'm asking you to fight the stupid monster, and shouldn't you be wanting me dead, anyway?" Luckily for Spike, Buffy was very confused right now, and that confusion superceded the anger. Unluckily for Spike, he did not grasp this fact well enough to try and keep her confused.   
"Slayer, I..." Spike had never had much trouble talking before, but all of the sudden the right words, heck, any words, were eluding him. Buffy, generous soul that she was, decided to give him a bit of assistance. She strode across the room, grabbed him by the collar of that extremely cool duster, and shoved him against the wall, which turned out to be a lot harder than it had looked.   
"Spike, talk, or I will stake you. I mean it." Buffy did not seem to realize that placing her face two inches away from his was really not helping the situation. Spike realized it, though, and decided to remedy the situation. Now, what Spike really meant to do at that moment was to tell the Slayer to get out of his face and then to figure out what he was going to tell her. But somehow, that didn't happen. What did happen was that before the part of him that really liked being undead and had no desire at all to get turned into a pile of dust could do anything to stop him, he kissed her. And then he got the biggest shock of his life. It topped dying, being turned into a vampire, KISS deciding to lose the makeup, everything. She kissed him back. Didn't stake him, slap him, douse him with Holy water, none of it. She kissed him. His brain was having some serious trouble processing this. About two minutes later, she stopped kissing him, and his brain got a chance to catch up with the recent events. Then she slapped him.   
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed indignantly.   
"Well, pet, I do believe I was kissing you."   
"Yeah, I kind of noticed that part!" She had broken away from him, and was pacing rapidly across the room. After finding the spot that was as far from him as possible, she willed her heart to slow down and resumed questioning him. "Why, exactly, did you decide kissing me would be a good idea at this point?"   
"You know, if I recall correctly, you weren't exactly complaining!" For some reason, Spike was feeling vaguely insulted.   
Buffy really did not want to go near him right now. She had this sneaking suspicion that if she did, they would wind up kissing again. But she had to know why. She stepped hesitantly towards him, then, with a bit more confidence, walked up to him.   
"Spike." She said softly. Calmly. "Talk."   
"I love you, Slayer." Wait a minute. How had that happened? Spike tried to go back and review the conversation in his mind, but he still didn't know. He had not meant to tell her that he loved her. He hadn't even really admitted it to himself until just now. Oh, well. Resigning himself to the inevitable, he prepared to listen to her either laughing in his face or explaining that there was absolutely no way that anything would ever, in a million years, happen between them.   
Spike had thought that nothing would ever top the shock he got mere minutes ago. He was wrong. He was still immersed in thoughts of exactly how she was planning on breaking his heart when she kissed him again. Poor guy never saw it coming. When they broke apart, Spike made a very wise decision and sat down before his knees went out from under him.   
"I love you too, Spike, but I'm still fighting Grendel." Buffy sat down next to him and looked him straight in the eyes. "I just can't sit back and watch people get killed. I'm too used to being the one to stop it."   
"Please, Buffy, let someone else fight the battle this time. As a special favor?" Spike hoped desperately that she would accede. He knew that if she persisted, he would give in to her and he didn't think he could stand it if she were hurt.   
The use of her first name did not go unnoticed by Buffy, nor did the look in Spike's eyes. "Okay. But just this once."   
"Thank you, luv." Spike was jubilant.   
"But just one thing, Spike." Buffy added.   
"Anything you want, Slayer." Spike was so happy with the night's events, he would have agreed to anything she asked for.   
"When we get back to Sunnydale, you're telling Giles about us."   
  
The next morning, Spike and Buffy awoke fairly early and headed into the mead hall. Upon entering, Spike reflected that it was a very good thing the mead hall very thick curtains covering the windows. Beowulf bounded up to them, proud as he could be.   
"Grendel is dead! The monster has been defeated, and the evil has been purged from this place." He announced.   
"Great." Buffy was still a bit bitter about having missed out on last night's fight. "So how did you kill him?"   
"Why with my bare hands, as no mortal weapons can kill the beast." Beowulf explained.   
"That's right!" Spike suddenly exclaimed. "That was in the book, too!" Buffy turned towards him. "What? Spike, tell me you didn't say what I think you said."   
"Well, I last read the thing a century ago, pet." He explained. "You can't very well expect me to remember everything, can you?"   
Before Buffy could get close enough to throttle him, that dizzy feeling came again, and suddenly, darkness descended.   
Then they were back in Giles' living room once more. Willow and Xander must have left at some point, because Giles was the only one there beside the time travelers themselves.   
"Excellent news, Buffy!" Giles sounded way too cheerful. "I was researching a bit while you were gone, and found a spell to vanquish the monster without you having to fight it. Willow and Tara cast it already, and we determined that it was a success."   
"You're telling me I went there for nothing? That whole time, for no reason whatsoever?" This was a very unhappy Buffy, and as Giles had long ago realized, an unhappy Buffy was a dangerous thing.   
"Well, no, I wouldn't say that, exactly." Giles stammered.   
"Really. You know what, I've had it. I've had it with you men, never finding it necessary to tell me these things, expecting me to just go along like a good girl, I've had it!" Buffy was lived now, glaring at man and vampire with fury unmatched by any of the monsters she had ever faced. "I am going home, I am sleeping for about a week, and I don't want to talk to either of you for at least that long. And by the way, Giles, Spike and I are dating now." With that, she turned and strode out the front door, leaving the two males in a bit of a stupor behind her.   
And Buffy did go home and take a very long nap, during which time it eventually registered with Giles that Spike was dating his surrogate daughter. He then took advantage of the fact that Spike couldn't hurt humans to beat the snot out of him, but finally stopped when he realized Buffy might take the mauling of her boyfriend rather personally. She did, but ended up forgiving both of them for being such jerks, since it wasn't really their fault they suffered from excess testosterone. Buffy dumped Riley for Spike, and Riley was last seen looking for a tall cliff to jump off of, but no one cared because they never really liked him anyway. And besides Riley, they all lived happily ever after until next Tuesday when they all had to go be canon again.   
  
Thanks for reading, everybody!


End file.
